Weekend Madness 2014-Stick a fork in it, we're done! See you next year!

Perfect! Just what I was thinking.

Gentlemen, we have a badge!  700 lookylous and only 11 brave souls willing to try the Ironman of model building?  Come on guys, what are you waiting for?  Think of the glory that awaits those who succeed!  Think of your friend's jaws dropping wide open when you tell them that not only did you finish a model, but that it took you less than two days to do it!  Join us in this brave endeavor!  Boys and girls will idolize you, men/women will swoon at the mere mention of your name!  Who's with us?

Has the date/weekend been finalised - this will influence whether I can even consider this bit of fun (and it seems you're short on the auto side!) or not. Not available on some of those... Will keep an eye out!

5-7 Dec

12-14 Dec

19-21 Dec

Which ever weekend works for you.

I will have to shoot for the 12-14 dec. I am doing an IMPS show for the Dec 7 weekend at pearl harbor

Oh poor guy. Have to go to Oahu.

Count me in for Dec 12-14, not sure of the kit yet, but I'll find something.

Welcome to our merry little band of modelling miscreants jelliot523!  We are the people your mother warned you about!

Aaaahhh, a bit slow on my side... Saw the 3 weekend dates and thought you were still deciding between which of those weekends all of us build together!

Will see how it works out - hope to be able to do something on that last weekend.

lewbud

Welcome to our merry little band of modelling miscreants jelliot523!  We are the people your mother warned you about!

Ahh, ya'll don't scare me!    It should be interesting to see what kind of work some of us can accomplish in a short time.  I remember building kits like this when I was a kid, definitely werent what you would consider "Nice".  LOL

Lewbud, I will give this insanity a shot.  I see you are short on automotive stuff so I will pull out something with four wheels and see what kind of gloo bomb I can create.  Hope you guys don't mind fingerprints in the paint!  LOL!

If it is OK, I can give this a shot next weekend.  Put me down for a 1/48 Monogram Su-25.  I know the kit is not the best or greatest, but this is the perfect opportunity to hammer it out.  Worried about the 5 color camo paint in only two days.  Should be interesting.

Rommelkiste and Caveman, welcome to the Madness!  Caveman, feel free to test the waters with an early build.  If my memory is correct, there was another inmate that needed an early start as well.  Rommelkiste, if you journey through the archives, you'll find bobaily's most excellent car build.  Mind your shadow though, don't want the vashta narata getting you.

Love the badge!  

Eagle90

OK.  Next weekend it is.  Already going through the instructions and making a plan of attack.  Found a resin seat for it as well.  Will take lots of pics but may need assistance with posting them.  Wish me luck!

Hey Lewbud,

You can officially put me down for the PM Horten Ho-229 V7 (#PM-220).  Not sure of the exact paint scheme yet, but this looks to be a cute little one for the shelf.

Eagle90

lewbud did you mean the Vashta NaraDa?   If so, I am armed with a Eludeum-Q-36 semi-cosmic, atomic based, reverse sonar-takeesta scope Klyde-Bide Baditer.  they won't dare mess with me.

Caveman-You have the lead.  Looking forward to your build.

Rommelkiste-You are well prepared.  I usually carry a sonic screwdriver and a banana.

and we're off

Hasegawa Rafele M 1/72 scale

see you in 48 hours!

So the first 12 hours have passed

Fit on the kit is not good, although it is badged Hasegawa, the bag said made in italy - so italieri moulds probably. Most panel detail is raised, and a lot of that has been lost in filling, sanding etc, which I am not doing as well as I should.

With the canopy on, the frame was painted nato black before two white primer coats and a gloss white coat

See how the gloss coat looks in the morning as to the next step in the process. I was hoping to go straight on to the next colour coat, but we shall see.

Tame that beastie lostagain!  Keep at it and remember, you'll get all the sleep you need when you're dead!  More pics!

Always liked the look of the Rafale.  A lot sleeker looking than the other delta/canard configuration jets, I think anyway.

Thanks guys, having some fun with this one.

So the 30 hour check in:

Spent two and a half hours masking this morning, with not much to show for it:

Then off to the zoo for a meeting at the lion's enclosure - seriously.

Then doing the mist coat for the main colour, when my airbrush delivered a great gobbet of $%#& onto the wing:

So carried on regardless to put on the gloss coat, which covered it better than expected:

And now with the masking off:

Colour coat was good enough that a second one is not required. So let that dry before we go a decalin'.

Painted up a test piece so I know when it is dry enough to start. Also painted some white decal paper the same colour so I can do fix ups later and not have to worry about paint drying.

Paint the U/C first though

Okay, not having so much fun any more.

The next stage of this model is the decaling, and there are more than 300 of the little blighters on the sheet. So lat night I started at 8 and finished at 1am, still have soooo much to do...

The decals are really thick. the carrier film is so heavy that it cannot go around the Rafale's compound curves. The decals are big in some cases, but they want to stick and hold straight away, which is a problem when they are too long to get in position straight away.

No amount of stabbing and applying decal softer or setter seems to make an impression on the varmints, the end result being an appearance like the vinyl stickers on my school books all those years ago.

at 36 hours it looked like:

and by bed time (as my wife told me):

Keep at it lostagain, you can do this!  I've got to admit I was more than a little curious when you laid down that coat of gloss white.  My curiosity was piqued when I saw the pink go on, then I remembered Hasegawa's anime inspired markings.  Hit the major points of the decals and get her done.  Keep the faith!

Looking good so far ! Hang in there

With 75 minutes to go, I declared decaling over and done with:

Then it was time to hang all the bits on here and there, and let it stand on its own:

and then on the 48 mark, the props came away:

and it is done! I will post some nice pics in a short while. And I'll take that piece of tape off the canopy...

This is the decal sheet before kick off:

Reduced the number of decals used by masking off the white.

Last night's decals had set down quite a bit, but so much setting agent required and still plenty of air bubbles.

The bunny head and heart decals were all sparkly, so the angle of view changes the appearance drastically:

So all in all, a bit of a trial, but happy with the result. Glad that I managed to jam all the frustration into 48 hours, rather than swearing at it for a week or two or three. Next time I would sand off all the raised panel lines that make the decals a nightmare. 

Also with more time, more attention would be paid to letting the coats dry and sanded down. 

Thanks for watching

Piers

Well, not what I expected but pleasantly surprised.  The last post I saw, it was still in gloss white.  I envisioned a prototype paint scheme.  Imagine my confusion when I saw the pink go down.  I forgot all about the anime kits that Hasegawa put out.  Don't see them very often.  All those decals......wow.  Impressive build.   You will be a tough act to follow.  Can't wait to get started tomorrow.  Just need to figure out this photobucket thing.